Like many family homes, each room within our own serves more than one purpose. We work, play, create, sleep, eat, and read, together or individually all within the same few shared rooms of our home. Quite often, we overlap in the same space,…

The end of October is a strange month to discuss habits, I know. Yet what I hope to encourage is that shifting a lifestyle pattern can happen at any point in the year, with the simplest goal, the smallest choice. It doesn't need to happen all…

In an ideal world I would be able to keep up with all of the things my heart wants to do at the present, including writing here more often, and in an ideal world, you would not just peek through my life on a screen, or message/email…

http://cloisteredaway.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Rhythm_Routine.jpg600900Bethanyhttps://www.cloisteredaway.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CloisteredAway-logo.jpgBethany2018-10-09 05:57:312018-11-07 11:56:45Rhythm, Routine, and Vision for the New School Year

I often pride myself on the flexibility homeschooling brings, the freedom to bend our home’s learning, to do things differently. Go to a park in the middle of the day? Yes! Read books in our pajamas? Of course! School in…

This time of year always feels a bit like Christmas. New books arrive in the mail and fresh paper and pencils fill our shelves. Although our routines and studies flex each year, these late summer months always cultivate expectation for us.…

http://cloisteredaway.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/STAPLES-8.jpg599900Bethanyhttps://www.cloisteredaway.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CloisteredAway-logo.jpgBethany2018-08-14 09:51:232018-08-14 09:51:23Organizing Notebooks + Supplies for the New School Year

The soul is like a wild animal––tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, self-sufficient. It knows how to survive in hard places. But it is also shy. Just like a wild animal, it seeks safety in the dense underbrush. If we want to see a wild…

One of the greatest pleasures of summertime is the abundance of color on the table. Berries and melons and leafy greens are in season, making it more reasonable than ever to feast on whole foods with economy. Although all of our children…

I often receive messages this time of year asking about our routine during the summer. Primarily, do we continue homeschooling or not? How do we structure our days? Or do we at all? In the homeschooling home, where boundaries of time and…